Today we are sharing a great free classroom resource by Swivl. It is called Recap and it is an online based platform that encourages students to think and recap deeply as they ask questions, leave video responses, pose new questions and even interact with their classmates’ posts. Another feature allows teachers to create a Journey which guides students through questions and links them to internet related content as they explore and investigate a certain topic–a great tool for a flipped lesson. As a social studies teacher I regularly have my students write their conclusion to an inquiry-based investigation–Recap is a new platform that allows them to find their voice and leave a short video reflection instead. It also gives students a great place to pose new questions and have rich class dialogue if I decide to make their reflections viewable by the group. I also appreciate how Recap works seamlessly with Google Classroom. To learn more go to https://letsrecap.com/.

]]>http://techmeology.com/WP/2017/09/26/recap-by-swivl/feed/0Equifax Breach: Who is at Risk?http://techmeology.com/WP/2017/09/25/equifax-breach-who-is-at-risk/
http://techmeology.com/WP/2017/09/25/equifax-breach-who-is-at-risk/#respondMon, 25 Sep 2017 05:12:14 +0000http://techmeology.com/WP/?p=2649Late this summer Equifax (a credit reporting agency) announced that 143 million customers had their data breached–this included everything from Social Security numbers, to addresses, names, birth dates and even credit card numbers. The Federal Trade Commission stated that “if you have a credit report there’s a good chance you are one of the 143 million.”

It is important to take action to see if your information was breached for a couple reasons–it seems Equifax is not reaching out to those impacted; instead it is left to the consumers and also enrollment into the one year of free credit monitoring/protection expires in November. Here is a helpful article regarding the data breach, 6 Tips to Protect Your Data put together by NPR; I especially think the tips listed at the end of the article with the links are 6 steps all consumers should take to help protect themselves from frauds using their compromised Equifax information. http://www.npr.org/2017/09/14/550949718/after-equifax-data-breach-consumers-are-largely-on-their-own

Both of these articles will suggest your first step is to find out if you are impacted by this security breach. How do you do that? Here is the website provided by Equifax–enter your last name and the last few digits of your Social Security number to find out. https://www.equifaxsecurity2017.com/am-i-impacted/.

]]>http://techmeology.com/WP/2017/09/25/equifax-breach-who-is-at-risk/feed/0Biteablehttp://techmeology.com/WP/2017/09/21/biteable/
http://techmeology.com/WP/2017/09/21/biteable/#respondThu, 21 Sep 2017 05:00:37 +0000http://techmeology.com/WP/?p=2646Today we are sharing Biteable which is a simple online video maker that can help you create a video with animation in just minutes. Biteable has simplified their online video editor and scaled down the choices so that you are not overwhelmed. Their templates are professional looking and easy to customize by adding your own text, images, and music. When you are finished your video will be emailed to you. Biteable videos are free, but they also have an option to pay to remove their company watermark if desired. This could be a great presentation tool for teachers or a way for students to share their learning with a digital project. To learn more go to http://biteable.com/.

Today’s tip is a bit of fun for those who use Chrome as an internet browser. One of the unique features to using Chrome are the extensions (extra tools) you can add to your browser. Today we are showing you a few ways to jazz up your new tab or home page while using Chrome.

Momentum–This is a great one because it greets you by name and reminds you of your goal that you can set each morning. It also adds a beautiful picture with an inspirational quotation.

Another helpful feature that Google added to Classroom this school year allows teachers to enter 1/2 points or decimals for student scores. In past years if I wanted to assign the grade of 8.5/10 for example in Classroom it would not work–now decimals are calculated.

Also a new feature this year lets you display all of a student’s work in one place with Google Classroom. You can even sort by Missing, Turned in or Returned With Grade. To access this option choose the Students button from the menu near the top/center of Classroom.

Choose a student’s name. All of the course work will appear and the Missing/Turned in filter will appear off to the left.

]]>http://techmeology.com/WP/2017/09/19/more-google-classroom-updates/feed/0Slide Carnivalhttp://techmeology.com/WP/2017/09/14/slide-carnival/
http://techmeology.com/WP/2017/09/14/slide-carnival/#respondThu, 14 Sep 2017 05:00:39 +0000http://techmeology.com/WP/?p=2639One of my colleagues always has the most creative PowerPoint/Google Slides templates. She shared her secret–there are lots of free templates that can be imported and used at Slides Carnival. I especially get bored with the lack of template options in Google Slides so this is a fast and easy way to add some creativity to your life.

Today we are sharing two great online ELA resources to supplement classroom learning. Quill.org and NoRedInk.com are rather amazing free resources which challenge students K-12 to improve their grammar and writing with leveled, interactive passages and questions. The websites provide teachers with great data to see what concepts are being mastered and which are not by each of their students. Both resources are truly high quality websites that are being used across the nation in English-Language Arts classrooms.

]]>http://techmeology.com/WP/2017/09/12/language-arts-resources/feed/09/11 Remembrance Resourceshttp://techmeology.com/WP/2017/09/11/911-remembrance-resources/
http://techmeology.com/WP/2017/09/11/911-remembrance-resources/#respondMon, 11 Sep 2017 05:00:46 +0000http://techmeology.com/WP/?p=2634As a teacher it is hard to believe most of our high school students were not alive on September 11, 2001. As a social studies teacher each year I take anywhere from a few moments to the entire class period remembering that day of infamy. The 9/11 Memorial has put together a website that is a great resource. Students and adults alike may enjoy browsing the museum’s website to learn about the design of the memorial or the Survivor Tree, explore the interactive 9/11 timelines, or teachers can find a well-planned lesson to use in your elementary or secondary classroom. This year I am going to put my own twist on their 6-8 lesson called Analyzing Memorial Songs. To explore the 9/11 Memorial website go to https://www.911memorial.org/.

A helpful tool found on most projector remotes is the freeze feature. This is a great option when using a computer and projector for presentations. By pressing the freeze button the image on the screen remains, but you are free to use your computer as needed while the image does not change. As a teacher this is an extremely helpful option as you can submit attendance or quickly locate your next resource while the students utilize the image frozen on the screen. Another great way to use the freeze feature is with Slides or PowerPoint, by freezing the screen you are able to access your presenter notes without the audience viewing them.

]]>http://techmeology.com/WP/2017/09/08/freeze-feature-2/feed/0Shift + Thttp://techmeology.com/WP/2017/09/05/shift-t/
http://techmeology.com/WP/2017/09/05/shift-t/#respondTue, 05 Sep 2017 05:00:23 +0000http://techmeology.com/WP/?p=2629A favorite keyboard command of mine quickly creates a new internet tab while opening a new untitled Google Doc at the same time. This shortcut only works when you are in Google Drive--press shift and T and you will save yourself quite a few steps and have that new Google Doc created in no time.